Schools in Georgia Restore 'Evolution' To the Curriculum

By ARIEL HART

Published: February 6, 2004

ATLANTA, Feb. 5—
The state superintendent of schools says she will reinstate the word ''evolution'' in the proposed biology curriculum for the state's schools. The superintendent, Kathy Cox, had ordered it removed because it is ''a buzz word that causes a lot of negative reaction,'' she said last week.

In a statement on Thursday, Ms. Cox said the controversy was greater than the one she had hoped to avoid by deleting the word in the first place.

''I am here to tell you that I misjudged the situation, and I want to apologize for that,'' Ms. Cox said.

The draft had replaced ''evolution'' with the phrase ''biological changes over time.'' The deletion drew a flood of criticism from biology professors across the state as well as from parents and former President Jimmy Carter.

Ms. Cox's statement did not address complaints that the evolution curriculum's subject matter had been gutted. Some critics said the draft left references to evolution incomplete and scattered.

''All of a sudden you're seeing this omission, and it's a major issue,'' said Benjamin Z. Freed, chairman of Georgia Citizens for Integrity in Science Education and a lecturer in biological anthropology at Emory University, whose 7-year-old daughter attends public school. ''The draft excluded not only the word but actually was misinformed on elements of natural selection.''

Physicists also complained about the draft's treatment of the origin of the universe, saying it omitted specific references to its age. Most scientists say the universe is billions of years old, but some creationists believe the Bible established the earth's age at as few as 6,000 years.

Ms. Cox's spokesman, Kirk J. Englehardt, said teacher teams who worked on the curriculum last year would consider the complaints and comment on those issues. They will revise a final draft for her to submit for the state board's approval this spring.